Nature Week – Leaf Painting

We painted with leaves. I demonstrated leaf printing, but it was hard for the children (5 of them, ages 5-8) to control the amount of paint on the leaves. The friends that came over to do this project with us have a marvelous garden, so they brought all different kinds of leaves to share.

Violet heart-shaped leaf

Originally I showed the children how to paint the shiny, flat, front side of the leaves, which makes no sense at all. The kids discovered on their own that the backside of most leaves have much more detail from the veins to print.

The leaves with the most texture were the prettiest of all.

Lamb’s Ear Leaf Print

It was a hot day with a cool breeze, so I thought that it would be the perfect outdoor activity for us. I didn’t anticipate all of the paint spattered leaves flying all over us from the wind!